Varsity Media Day: Area's top players select most anticipated games of 2013

Varsity Football Media Day was Saturday at Orlando Sentinel

August 17, 2013|By Stephen Ruiz, Orlando Sentinel

Beware the red pen.

Some of the Sentinel coverage area's best high-school football players who attended Varsity Media Day on Saturday might have the game against your team circled on their schedule.

The regular season for most area schools will begin in two weeks. The time to look ahead is now.

"[Kissimmee] Osceola,'' Lake Nona wide receiver Ryan Sousa said of the Lions' district game against the Kowboys on Oct. 11. "That's the hardest game we have to play. It's going to take everything out of every individual.''

The selected games ran the gamut of the calendar. Some chose early season games, such as Dr. Phillips' Deionte Gaines, who highlighted the Panthers' season opener at Timber Creek on Aug. 30. Sousa and Mount Dora's Von Davis, who picked the Hurricanes' matchup at Bishop Moore on Sept. 20, went the midseason route.

And then players such as Oviedo's Tyree Owens and Timber Creek's Jacques Patrick showed their patience. They chose their team's district game on Nov. 1, the second-to-last week of the regular season.

"It likely will be for the district championship,'' said Patrick, who rushed for a sophomore area-record 2,087 yards last season. "It doesn't get any bigger than that.''

What about if your team is facing its former coach? Olympia's Alex Gomez will get that chance when the Titans face off against West Orange and Bob Head in a road game Oct. 18.

Head left Olympia this offseason after eight years as coach.

"A lot of people expect me to say Dr. Phillips [is my most anticipated game], but that game against West Orange is personal,'' Gomez said.

Said Head: "The intensity, the anticipation the whole week, is going to be big. Every play could be a turning point. It's going to be an awesome football game.''

So should Hagerty's matchup at intracity rival Oviedo on Sept. 20. That was Huskies quarterback Jason Driskel's choice.

"Those are players you grew up with and played Pop Warner against,'' said Driskel, the brother of University of Florida QB Jeff Driskel. "It's almost a home game for both teams, only one team's fans are sitting on the visiting side.''

For Lake Brantley's Chris DeLaRosa, nothing will top when the Patriots welcome Class 8A reigning state champion Apopka to Altamonte Springs on Sept. 6.

"It's the most intense game I've been in,'' DeLaRosa said. "It's extremely loud. Both teams, more than anything, want to win.''

Evans' Traevon Sharp said the game he has circled is the Trojans' first, at Edgewater on Aug. 30.

"[Coach Chip Gierke] tells us, 'We can either be 1-0 or 0-1?''' Sharp said. "'Which do you want to be?'''